Chances are most people have never heard of Alonzo Johnson (1828-1905). Even among die-hard historians of computers and calculation, his name elicits barely a flicker of recognition. Yet this unheralded son of Bangor, Maine made seminal contributions to the march of mechanized computation during the latter 1800s. Johnson‘s revolutionary adding machines marked substantive steps toward automated processing of complex mathematics.
So how did this largely self-taught machinist end up conceiving and constructing devices that would presage seminal advances in computing technology over the next century and beyond? Come along as we chronicle Alonzo Johnson‘s fascinating trajectory from humble origins to unsung innovator exploring the dawn of automated calculation.
Small Town Machine Shop Prodigy
Born in 1828 to parents Lovisa and Dolliver Johnson, farmer‘s son Alonzo grew up tinkering with mechanical gadgets around rural Bangor, Maine. His early facility with metalworking led to apprenticeship in local machine shops during adolescence. Alonzo voraciously read every book and treatise he could find about machinery, engineering and manufacturing innovations of the rapid Industrial Revolution era.
Eager to stake his own claim in burgeoning regional industry, Alonzo relocated down the coast to Springfield, Massachusetts in 1849 – a bustling manufacturing hub dubbed as the "Precision Valley." Johnson gained a machinist post with Wesson Rifle Manufacturing, honing techniques for cutting, shaping and assembling intricate mechanical parts and tools. Observers marveled at how rapidly Alonzo mastered operation of the era‘s most advanced lathes, presses and gear-cutting machines through late nights of self-guided practice.
By 1857, the ambitious Alonzo Johnson felt confident enough to establish his own small machine shop in Springfield, securing metalworking contracts from regional fabricators. Johnson‘s Hampion Street workshop gained renown for its fastidious tolerances and novel cog designs.
| Chronology of Key Alonzo Johnson Life Events |
|---|
| 1828 – Born in Bangor, Maine |
| 1849 – Relocates to Springfield, Massachusetts |
| 1850 – Marries Sarah E. Sinclair |
| 1857 – Opens Johnson Machine Shop |
| 1867 – Develops first calculating "Engine" prototype |
| 1868 – Secures two US Patents for calculating machines |
| 1905 – Dies in Springfield at age 77 |
When the American Civil War erupted in 1861, Johnson landed munitions contracts supplying rifle parts and machinery fixtures to New England arsenals supporting the Union Army. These demanding specifications pushed Alonzo to enhance production methods and machining techniques for unparalleled consistency. The"][war also fostered simmering ideas for an automated calculation device.
Calculating a Path Toward Automation
Watching clerks spend long hours tabulating reams of weaponry receipts and inventory logs by hand, Alonzo wondered: "Why not create a physical machine to handle these monotonous arithmetic computations?" Since youth, he‘d mulled mechanical shortcuts for navigating cumbersome math problems.
Alonzo was aware of earlier efforts to develop calculation "engines." In 1642, French polymath Blaise Pascal had built a rudimentary adding machine using interlocking toothed wheels. Only capable of summing two numbers entered directly via dials, lacking a "store" function, it saw minimal use.
Over 200 years later, acclaimed English scientist Charles Babbage began work in the 1820s on a ballyhooed "Difference Engine" – a moveable device meant to automatically compute navigational tables for shipping and railways. Though hailed as the first true calculator, Babbage‘s unfinished contraption bore little resemblance to modern computers.
Johnson believed he could craft a more functional, commercially viable model for repetitive summing tasks. But the intricacies of mechanical calculation had always proved devilishly tricky…
